Chapter 195: THE FALLEN OF THE LOZENS
"Where is she?" Arthur asked dangerously. He growled at Ranon when he saw him enter the room where he was being held captive.
They didn’t handcuff him, but they barred the windows and locked the door. This place was akin to a fancy jail.
Aside from a single chair, there was nothing else here. Even the walls were a boring shade of grey.
"Get that woman here!" Arthur’s temper flared. He wanted Hazel. He needed her to answer all of his questions about River. How could she be in contact with her when she was dead?
The wound on his head had been bandaged, but Arthur didn’t like it. He yanked it and let the wound open.
"You can leave now," Ranon said coldly, ignoring the way he disrespected his wife. He only came once he had taken Hazel to the hospital.
She needed to be bedridden. Her blood pressure was at a dangerous rate; it could harm their baby.
It was as expected, though, after Hazel saw River’s condition, or what remained of her, that she vomited and continued crying. It was the first time Ranon had seen how helpless she was.
Yet, what bothered and upset him even more was that he couldn’t ask what happened. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.
With Hazel, there were more questions than answers.
Lucian and Ares had been relentlessly warning him to end things with Hazel as soon as possible. Lucian had gone ahead to draft their divorce.
However, Ranon still didn’t give them a clear answer as to where he stood right now.
"Leave now, Arthur," Ranon interrupted his rambling. "Your family is in danger."
"Are you threatening me now?!" Arthur raged.
"No." Ranon leaned against the wall; he crossed his arms. "But with the death of River spread out, your enemies will attack sooner or later. I don’t want to take the responsibility for the fall of your family because I held you here."
Ranon still needed Arthur to find out the person who targeted the Leightons, and there were a few things that needed to be resolved between the two of them.
It wouldn’t do if the Lozen family had fallen and lost their control.
"You know I am talking the truth." Ranon tilted his head. "Especially with the traitor within your ranks." Ranon was talking about the Barlowe.
If he were them, this was the right moment to strike, more so when Arthur had gone missing for days.
"Shut up; that’s none of your business! Take me to your wife! I want to talk to her!"
"She is not someone that you can talk to as you please." Ranon was not happy with the way Arthur demanded to see Hazel. "You can leave now, or you can stay, but if I see you sneak around again, that time I will not only shoot your leg. I am going to shoot you dead."
After saying that, Ranon left the room and left the door open. He took all of his men with him, leaving Arthur alone.
***
It had been close to a week since Arthur disappeared, and at the same time, many more people learned about River’s death, as if someone was fanning the news.
Meanwhile, Aubrey was too preoccupied with Bryer; she didn’t notice her father’s absence at first. After all, he was not often at home.
Because she was too busy with her son, Aubrey had not yet learned the latest news about River. Bryer was a baby with colic; thus, he needed all of Aubrey’s attention.
However, on the eighth day Arthur disappeared, someone she didn’t expect to see came.
"Arlo?" Aubrey breathed his name; her heart skipped a beat to see that man was standing right outside her bedroom door. "What are you doing here? How can you be here?"
Aubrey couldn’t leave this house and look for him because Arthur put in extra security to ensure that.
"Oh, Arlo... Arlo!" Aubrey rushed towards him and hugged him tightly. She buried her face against his chest and cried her heart out.
She felt exhausted. Life had not been kind to her lately. She needed someone to support her, someone whom she could lean on.
However, she had no one in this house.
Her father had been crazy about River, as he looked for her relentlessly. He neglected most of his responsibilities. Not to mention how he had been very short with her after he learned about that fateful night.
"I thought I would never see you again." Aubrey’s tears couldn’t stop falling. She hugged him even tighter. "But I know you will come. I know you will come to get me and our baby."
Arlo hugged her back, but his expression was devoid of any emotions as he soothed her with a few words. "Where is Bryer?"
Hearing Arlo ask for their son, Aubrey immediately wiped her tears; her face lit up. She was happy that Arlo cared about him.
"Come here, I just put him to sleep. He has been fussing for hours." Aubrey wanted to cry whenever Bryer started crying, because it would be a hell of an effort to calm him down.
Arlo followed behind her and saw a crib, where their son was lying, sleeping with his small mouth slightly ajar.
He was around three months old, and their first meeting was not like how Arlo expected it to be. He didn’t feel the instant love for his son.
It almost felt as though he saw someone else’s child.
But on the surface, he didn’t show any of his thoughts and let Aubrey gush over the baby until he cut her off.
"Get all the things you and the baby need. We will leave now."
"Don’t you want to hold Bryer first?" Aubrey asked expectantly, even though Arlo’s reaction was lukewarm towards their son, but the fact that he was here was enough to soothe her worry.
"We don’t have time. He just fell asleep, right?"
Aubrey didn’t dare to fuss again. She packed everything she needed without asking more questions. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible, lest her father’s men catch her.
"I am done. Let’s go."
Ranon took the backpack from Aubrey’s hand; most of the things were the baby’s, while Aubrey carried Bryer carefully so she wouldn’t wake him up.
However, she started to feel something was wrong with the house. It was too quiet.
They used the back door to leave the Lozen’s residence, but even so, she didn’t see a single soul here. This place should have been guarded.
Aubrey kept the question to herself until she heard two gunshots from inside the house, which woke Bryer up.
"What is that!?" She asked, alarmed.
"Get inside. We shouldn’t waste time."
Arlo opened the car door for her, but Aubrey was hesitant. She squinted her eyes at him. "How could you get here?"
The answer was there. Aubrey didn’t need to hear it from him, but she said it anyway.
"Did you attack the Lozens?" Aubrey overheard Arthur had been talking about the potential of rebellion from the Barlowes with Deryl McKenna over the phone.
But she didn’t think it would really happen.
Arlo wouldn’t do that, or so she thought.
"Get inside, Aubrey." Arlo was being stern with her. He didn’t want to deal with Aubrey’s nagging, nor did he want to stay in this building for long, since every corner of it reminded him of River.
Attacking Lozen’s residence was not a problem, but he couldn’t help but think that all of this would never have happened if he were still with River.
She wouldn’t be dead.
She would be here with him.
He missed her...
There was nothing Arlo wouldn’t do to see her again; even if she came to take revenge on him, he was ready for that.
He was looking forward to that moment.
However, it would never happen, because River had gone.
And now, he was stuck with Aubrey and the baby he didn’t really want. He wondered, was all of this worth it in the end?
"Arlo, you didn’t do this, right? You didn’t attack the Lozens, right?" Aubrey gritted her teeth. "Did you kill all the men?"
Arlo didn’t answer her. He felt the urge to shove her inside the car or just leave her here. Probably, it was only a sense of responsibility for him to bring Aubrey and his son away from the disaster that befell the Lozens.
"Did you betray my father?" Aubrey knew the answer; she was simply stubborn enough to refuse to believe that.
"Get inside, Aubrey." Arlo’s voice was colder than usual.
"Answer me!"
"The Lozens is no more. If you want to live, get inside."
***
"Ranon." Hazel shook Ranon’s shoulder as he slept on the bed next to her.
They were still in the hospital, and Ranon was adamant for her to stay here until she gave birth. It was worrisome since this was the second time she had been hospitalized in such a short period of time.
More so, with her current condition and what happened, this would be the safest option.
"Yes?" Ranon opened his eyes, and he was immediately on alert. "Do you need something?" He immediately sat down.
There were two beds here, and Ranon insisted on staying. Even when Renna said she could take a turn with him, he refused.
"I have a cramp." Hazel frowned. "I think I have a contraction."
Hazel had educated herself about this, and the doctor also had let her know any information that was deemed necessary for her to understand.